TOLEDO, Ohio - J. Russell Coffey, the oldest known surviving
U.S. veteran of World War I, has died. The retired teacher,
one of only three U.S. veterans from the "war to end all
wars," was 109.

Coffey died Thursday at the Briar Hill Health Campus in North
Baltimore, where he had lived for the past four or five years,
said Gaye Boggs, nursing director at the nursing home. No
cause of death has been determined, she said Friday. His
health began failing in October.

More than 4.7 million Americans joined the military from
1917-1918. Coffey never saw combat because he was still in
basic training when the war ended.

The two remaining U.S. veterans are Frank Buckles, 106, of
Charles Town, W.Va.; and Harry Richard Landis, 108, of Sun
City Center, Fla., according to the Veterans Affairs
Department. In addition, John Babcock, 107, of Spokane, Wash.,
served in the Canadian army and is the last known Canadian
veteran of the war.

Interest in World War I survivors grew over the past year as
their numbers dwindled. The last living links to the war, the
U.S. veterans received honors and did a flurry of interviews.
In May, Buckles was a grand marshal of the National Memorial
Day Parade in Washington, D.C., riding in the back of a car.

But Coffey once confided to his daughter, Betty Jo Larsen,
that he wished people would remember his contributions rather
than his old age. "He told me 'even a prune can get old,'" she
said last spring. She died in September.

Coffey had enlisted in the Army while he was a student at Ohio
State University in October 1918, a month before the Allied
powers and Germany signed a cease-fire agreement. He was
discharged a month after the war ended.

His two older brothers fought overseas, and he was
disappointed at the time that the war ended before he shipped
out. But he told The Associated Press in April 2007: "I think
I was good to get out of it."

Born Sept. 1, 1898, Coffey played semipro baseball in Akron,
earned a doctorate in education from New York University,
taught in high school and college and raised a family.

He delivered newspapers as a youngster and would read the
paper to immigrants, his daughter said. "That was the
beginning of him being a teacher," she said.

Coffey returned to Ohio State University after he left the
Army and received two degrees there.

He said he loved teaching. "I could see results," he said. "I
could see improvement."

He taught junior high and high school in Phelps, Ky., and
Findlay. He then taught physical education at Bowling Green
State University from 1948 until 1969.

He had a remarkable memory and was independent, his daughter
said. He drove his car until he was 104, and lived in his own
home until a year later. He was a swimmer and credited healthy
eating and exercise for his longevity.

His wife, Bernice, whom he married in 1921, died in 1993.
Larsen was their only child.

Among the other World War I veterans who died this year were
Emiliano Mercado del Toro, 115, who ranked as world's oldest
person for the last weeks of his life, and Charlotte Winters,
109, the last known American female veteran of the war.